The 34-year-old was airlifted to the United Kingdom after the â€ślife-threateningâ€? fall that broke his shoulder, the Mail, a British newspaper, said.

Bear aimed to promote alternative energy and bioethanol during the expedition, while also raising money for the international childrenâ€™s charity Global Angels, the Mail said.

He had planned with his four teammates to clime and name a 9,000 foot mountain peak if the trip was successful, the newspaper said.

According to the Mail, Bear is determined to go back to Antarctica.

The adventurer is a former British Special Forces member. He newly published a book on survival skills, â€śMan vs. Wild: Survival Techniques for the Most Dangerous Places on Earth,â€? The Associate Press said.

November 15, 2008

Nebraska Safe Haven Law to be Changed

Nebraska lawmakers are considering whether to change the stateâ€™s â€śBaby Mosesâ€? law which allows parents to abandon their children at hospitals without prosecution, CBS News reported.

The law was established in July to allow vulnerable parents to leave their infants in a safe place, the BBC said.

However, of the 34 children abandoned since then, only six have been younger than 10, according to CNN.

CBS reported that one infant had been abandoned under the safe haven law, but according to CNN, none of the children were infants.

The law allows not only parents, but any adult, to drop off any child under the age of 18 the BBC said.

â€śI certainly recognize and can commiserate and empathize with families across our state and across the country who are obviously struggling with parenting issues, but this is not the appropriate way of dealing with them," Todd Landry, head of the state's Department of Health and Human Services' division of children and family services told the BBC.

Gov. Dave Heineman urged parents to think of the message they were sending to their children before abandoning them, CNN reported.

"Think of what you are saying. You are saying you no longer support them. You no longer love them,â€? Heineman said.

Officials are working to change the law so that only infants will be received by hospitals. The law is expected to change by the end of next week, CBS said.

November 9, 2008

Alum Donates $300 Million to the Univ. of Chicago

An alumnus has given the University of Chicagoâ€™s business school a $300 million gift, the university announced Thursday, according to The Associated Press.

David G. Boothâ€™s unrestricted donation is â€śthe largest individual gift ever to a U.S. business school and the largest in the University of Chicagoâ€™s history,â€? Dean Edward Snyder said according to MSNBC.

The gift more than doubled the previous record for a business school donation, which was a $105 million endowment from Philip Knight, founder of Nike Inc., to Stanford Universityâ€™s Graduate School of Business in 2006, Snyder said.

Snyder announced at a news conference Thursday that the school will be renamed the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

The money will be used to expand the schoolâ€™s presence abroad as well as â€śattract star faculty,â€? Snyder told MSNBC.

Quentin Patrick, 22, said he thought he was being robbed after 12-year-old T.J. Darrisaw, his 9-year-old brother, Ahmardre Darrisaw, and their father, Freddie Grinnell were hit by the gunfire after knocking on Patrickâ€™s door around 8:30 p.m., FOX News said.

The family stopped at Patrickâ€™s house on their way home from a Halloween celebration after seeing the porch light on, according to FOX News.

Ahmadre Darrisaw and Freddie Grinnell were release from the hospital after being treated for minor injuries, Myrtle Beachâ€™s Sun News reported.

T.J. was killed from a shot to his head, Sun News said.

Patrick has been charged with murder and assault and battery with intent to kill, FOX News said.

October 26, 2008

Missing Teens Found in Iowa

The two Missouri teenagers who disappeared during a football game last week were found in Council Bluffs, Iowa on Sunday afternoon, the Kansas City Star reported.

The Christina â€śPaigeâ€? Alley, 14, was the subject of an Amber Alert when she left the football game after the performing in the marching bandâ€™s halftime show with her boyfriend Levi Carlson, 16, according to KMBC.

The Amber Alert was called off Sunday about 4:30 p.m., police said to KCTV.

Alley and Carlson were found under an interstate overpass, Clinton County Police Department Major John Farmer said, according to the Kansas City Star.

KMBC reported that the two had been unharmed, sleeping in sleeping bags inside their car. The Kansas City Star said that the teenagers had only their sleeping bags with them, having left the car in Omaha.

All three reports agree that the teenagersâ€™ parents left for Iowa to bring the two home.

October 19, 2008

Kidnapped Boy Found Alive

The 6-year-old boy kidnapped from a Las Vegas home Wednesday has been found alive in the downtown Las Vegas area, police said early Sunday according to a Las Vegas Now news article.

Cole Puffinburger was abducted as a ransom when drug dealers couldnâ€™t find the boyâ€™s grandfather who owed millions of dollars to the dealers as part of a methamphetamine ring, police said in the Las Vegas Now report.

Clemens Tinnemeyer, who had not been seen since August, was found and arrested Friday in connection with Coleâ€™s kidnapping, CNN said.

Police received a report that a young boy was walking by himself in a middle-class neighborhood about 5 miles from the Las Vegas Strip, Officer Jay Rivera of the Las Vegas Police said according to a Kansas City Star story.

Police gave no information on how Cole got there, only that â€śhe is safe and in our custody,â€? according Las Vegas police Capt. Vincent Cannito in a CNN article.

â€śThe remainder of the investigation now shifts, the focus now goes on to the drug dealing and potential extortion,â€? Cannito said.

October 6, 2008

Using a Fan May Reduce Risk of SIDS

The study of nearly 500 infants found that running a fan near a sleeping infant was associated with a 72 percent decrease in the risk of SIDS, according to ABC News.

Previous research has revealed that placing babies to sleep on their backs, firm mattresses and keeping pillows and toys out of the crib also prevents SIDS, a CBS News report said.

These findings have decreased the number of deaths resulting from SIDS by 56 percent in the last decade, the ABC article reported.

Doctors continue to search for the cause of the syndrome which results in the deaths of 2,500 babies a year.
The new study â€śseems to suggest that by improving room ventilation we can further reduce risk,â€? Dr. De-Kun Li of Kaiser Permanente Division of Research in Oakland, Calif., said in ABCâ€™s report.

October 5, 2008

O.J. Simpson Found Guilty

O.J. Simpson may now spend the rest of his life in prison after being found guilty Friday on 12 charges, including robbery and kidnapping, according to CNN.

The jurors told attorneys they would be able to â€śset aside their feelingsâ€? about Simpsonâ€™s acquittal on murder charges for the death of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman, an MSNBC report said.

Simpsonâ€™s lawyer Yale Galanter said the verdict â€śwas just paybackâ€? and that the jury members were â€śon an agendaâ€? to make up for his acquittal in 1995, according to a FOX News report.

â€śIn this case, justice delayed was not justice denied,â€? Gloria Allred, the attorney who represented Nicole Brown Simpsonâ€™s family said according to an ABC report.

The verdict was announced exactly 13 years after Simpsonâ€™s was found not guilty on charges of murder.

September 28, 2008

$20 Million Ransom Demanded from Somali Pirates

A Somali pirate informed The Associated Press Sunday that a $20 million ransom was demanded by his group for the release of a cargo ship packed with Russian tanks and weapons, according to FOX News.

The pirate warned the AP â€śthat they would fight to the death if any country tried military action to regain the ship,â€? an ABC News article said.

One crew member died Sunday due to hypertension said a man who identified himself as the shipâ€™s captain, Victor Nikolsky, said an MSNBC report.

The pirates took over Faina, the Ukrainian-run ship, off the coast of Somalia Thursday. The ship was not far from its Kenyan destination, Lt. Col. Konstantin Sadilov, Ukrainian defense spokesman said in a CNN report.

Pirate attacks have increased worldwide this year, with 24 reported in Somalia alone, the International Maritime Bureauâ€™s records reveal, according to the MSNBC article.

September 21, 2008

Atheists more likely to be superstitious, study reveals

A survey released this month by Baylor University reveals that those who identify themselves as Christians are much less likely to hold paranormal beliefs, such as the existence of ghosts, the Loch Ness Monster, and Atlantis.

The survey, which polled 1,648 people, was considered â€śone of the most detailed ever conducted about religion in the United States,â€? according to an article in the Washington Post.

The finding that people who expressed no belief in God leaned politically to the left was not new. However, the survey also found those people more prone to believe in communication with the dead, haunted houses, and UFOs, the Washington Times said.

This finding contrasts idea that those who do not believe in a higher power are more rational and educated than those who embrace fundamental Christian beliefs.

In fact, those with a higher education are more likely to hold paranormal beliefs, reported the Wall Street Journal, citing a Skeptical Inquirer survey.

Could G.K. Chestertonâ€™s Father Brown character have been on to something when he said, â€śItâ€™s the first effect of not believing in God that you lose your common sense, and canâ€™t see things as they areâ€??

September 15, 2008

Angry Wife Sells DJâ€™s Lotus on EBay

The wife of a Birmingham DJ took revenge on her husband by selling his sports car on eBay for less than $2 after listening to him flirt on air.

The British DJ, Tim Shaw, told model Jodie Marsh he would be willing to leave his wife and two kids for her on his Thursday night radio program, according to The Independent of London.

Shawâ€™s wife, listening to the program, immediately put the DJâ€™s Lotus Esprit Turbo on eBay with the message, â€śI need to get rid of this car immediatelyâ€¦ before my husband gets home to find it gone and all his belongings in the street.â€?

The car, estimated to be worth $45,000, sold within five minutes, according to FOX News.

â€śI am sick of him disrespecting his family for the sake of his actâ€¦ I just thought I would get him back the best way I could,â€? Shawâ€™s wife said to the Birmingham Post.

â€śThere have been a few things but this was the last straw,â€? the woman concluded.